A UK government plan to introduce a nationwide digital identification system is moving ahead, despite a public backlash that saw more than 2.7 million people sign a petition urging its cancellation.
The proposal, first announced by Labour in September, would provide a digital ID to every UK citizen and legal resident aged 16 and above.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer claimed the new system would help strengthen border enforcement and reduce illegal employment, describing the ID, dubbed the “Brit Card,” as a tool to “make it tougher to work illegally in this country, making our borders more secure.”
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The public response was overwhelmingly opposed. Warnings about centralized data collection, privacy intrusions, and increased state surveillance flooded public discourse.
Descriptions of the proposal ranged from a “dystopian nightmare” to fears of a gateway to “digital control.”
Not long after Labour’s announcement, a petition was created on the official UK Government and Petitions website.
It quickly gathered enough signatures to qualify for parliamentary debate, a 100,000-signature benchmark, and within days surged past two million.
Despite reaching over 2.7 million signatures, the government issued a formal response rejecting the petition and restating its commitment to the scheme.
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According to the response, published by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the new ID system is part of Labour’s wider aim to modernize public services.
“We will introduce a digital ID within this Parliament to help tackle illegal migration, make accessing government services easier, and enable wider efficiencies. We will consult on details soon,” the government wrote.
Although a formal consultation process is expected in the coming weeks, involving employers, unions, and civil society organizations, the government made it clear that legislation to support the digital ID system is on the way.
Over time, it is expected to serve as a single access point for government services like benefits, tax records, and other official interactions, potentially eliminating the need for physical documents or multiple logins.
The government’s decision to push ahead with a national digital ID comes in the shadow of the recently enacted Online Safety Act, which has already laid the groundwork for sweeping identity checks across the internet.
That law, marketed as a way to protect children from harmful content, gave regulators broad authority to demand age verification for accessing a wide range of online services.
The result is an emerging digital framework where proving who you are, even just to browse or communicate, is becoming a condition of access.
